Clarity is key as Eric Ramsay kicks off a mini-season for the Baggies

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·15 January 2026

Clarity is key as Eric Ramsay kicks off a mini-season for the Baggies

West Bromwich Albion v Middlesbrough; The Hawthorns, Friday 16th January 2026, 8pm

Albion’s newly appointed head coach, Eric Ramsay, has expressed a need for clarity as he prepares his players for the first of what he describes as a 20-game mini-season. That first match is against high-flying Middlesbrough albeit their won recent form leaves much to be desired.

In my opinion piece last week, I picked out Michael Carrick as the man I felt should replace Ryan Mason, and that the hierarchy at Old Trafford felt he was the right choice to take them to the end of the season at least gives that idea some credence, but the more I have learned about Eric Ramsay in the past week, the more excited I have become about his appointment.

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There is no doubt that it is something of a gamble, but what head coach appointment isn’t? There are plenty of “established names” who have failed, not least Tony Mowbray at the Hawthorns last season, and Ramsay meets the Bilkul-stated model of appointing young aspiring coaches. Furthermore, although he is slightly younger than even Ryan Mason, his coaching career is far longer and far more impressive having not only worked at four clubs in the English leagues, but also had two years as a head coach in his own right. Those two years, at MLS club Minnesota United, have been successful with both resulting in play-off finishes for a club with relatively limited resources.

Reports suggest that his Minnesota United team were difficult to play against, well drilled in set pieces, and happy to concede possession and break quickly when the opportunity allowed. Albion may end up playing in a similar way, at least initially, but my impression is that Ramsay will adapt the team’s playing style to match the qualities of the playing squad. He has spoken this week about organisation and attention to detail, which reminded me not only of how Tony Pulis managed Albion, but also of Roy Hodgson.

I was listening to Chris Brunt talk earlier this week on how Hodgson drilled his team on where to be in all situations until it became second nature, and the results were there for all to see; had the FA not come calling, who knows how much further he could have taken the club. If Ramsay can have a similar impact on this season’s team, there will be few among the Hawthorns faithful complaining.

It remains to be seen how much impact he will have been able to have in the four days’ training ahead of Friday’s match with Middlesbrough, but it will be very interesting to see how the team sets up and, indeed, who is selected. James Morrison surprised some by starting Darryl Dike at Swansea on Sunday, indeed he is the only coach to have given the American a start since February 2024, and also gave opportunities to youngsters Harry Whitwell and Ollie Bostock, with the latter establishing himself as a fans’ hero with the winning penalty in the shoot out.

While that match ended Albion’s run of successive defeats on the road, it still demonstrated many of the team’s recent frailties that the new man will need to get to grips with in short order if the Baggies are to climb the Championship table.

Middlesbrough is, on paper, a tough first opponent for Ramsay, sitting as they do in the automatic promotion places. However, the Smoggies have won only one of their last six in all competitions including defeats in their last three away from the Riverside. That run came after a positive start from their new head coach, Kim Hellberg, who won his first four games in charge of the Teessiders after replacing Wolves-bound Rob Edwards. They then picked up just one point from the four games over the festive period before beating Southampton 4-0 on 4th January. Two incongruous results since the former Hammarby head coach was appointed are a 4-1 win at Hull City and a 1-0 home defeat by the same team who now find themselves on the fringes of the play-off places. Consistency seems to be a challenge for Boro’ at present.

I’m sure the appointment will ensure that the Hawthorns is close to capacity on Friday evening, but let’s hope that the optimism that will have been generated is not misplaced this time. As Bilkul’s third head coach appointment in less than twelve months, they need to get this one right. No one will be judging anything too much on this one game, but Ramsay doesn’t have too long to sort things out and a positive start will be a big step in the right direction.

History

Albion have lost their last four matches against Middlesbrough although only one of those was at the Hawthorns. The Baggies’ last win over Boro’ was in August 2023 when Carlos Corberán’s team won 4-2 albeit the visitors were reduced to ten men just after half time when Tommy Smith was dismissed for two yellow cards.

That is one of only three victories that the Baggies have registered over the Smoggies in fifteen meetings over the last ten years. The only other Hawthorns victory in that period was in February 2023 when the game was decided by two early Daryl Dike goals – he has scored just four more since then.

Albion’s two best home wins against Boro’ both came in the same year, 1935. On 5th January that year, goals from Ginger Richardson, Wally Boyes, Arthur Gale, Teddy Sandford (2) and Joe Carter earned the hosts a 6-3 victory while almost twelve months later on Boxing Day, Richardson was on fire as he scored four with a George Shaw penalty making the final score 5-2.